Breaking Taylor
by HellsBellsBella
Summary: Short story for now: Detective Mac Taylor, head of the NY Crime lab finds himself infatuated with his newest CSI, Lindsay Monroe, though he doesn't want to admit it just yet.
1. Madison Square Murder

Disclaimer- I own nothing

Ok so I'm a total CSI freak now...though CSI NY is my favorite, I am still a fan of Horatio and Grissom :). I have watched almost every season of CSI NY fully...except for season 4...didn't want to watch it at first cause Danny cheats on Lindsay...but since my mum bought me season 4 on dvd for christmas...gonna have to watch it aren't I lol :).

This is going to be a short story for now because I quite like the idea of Mac and Lindsay considering I have read a few fics, there aren't many, but I thought maybe I could add to them, and Yes for those who are reading my Don/Lindsay story, it will be continued, I'm currently writing the third chapter now :)

Lindsay dropped her keys onto the small table by the door of her apartment, her apartment was so small, a one bed, if you could even call it that, it was all one room, it was all she could afford for the moment. She had only been in New York for two weeks, the only thing she could count on was her position at the NY Crime lab, working as a CSI, she loved her job with a passion, she had been a CSI back in Bozeman, Montana, her home town, and Mac Taylor, her new boss had sought her out. They had recently let go of one of their CSI's and Mac was in need of a helping hand around the lab. Lindsay knew she'd be labeled as a rookie straight away, no doubt about that, but everyone in the lab had accepted her, she didn't have any trouble with any of them thankfully, that wasn't what she needed right now. Mac had been interested in her work because a serial killer who had been wanted for years with no evidence to put him away had finally been put away for life because of Lindsay's work, he had hired her because she never ignored a single detail, she made sure she had processed every last thing in the crime scene before leaving, Mac liked her attention to detail.

Even though she didn't have much, she had made her apartment look like it had been lived in, she had a small bookcase filled with all of her personal favorite books, coushins on her bed that she had been given as a child. As a going away present her parents had bought her a double bed and had paid for it to be brought to her apartment and set up, they had told her they didn't want her sleeping on an air mattress until she waited for someone to help her build the bed, They had gone over all of the spinal problems she'd suffer if she slept on it for over a month, not wanting to hear their stories she had agreed to let them pay. She loved her family more than anything, that and her job were her two main priorities, she did have some friends back in Bozeman, but her work usually got in the way of that because the hours weren't exactly flexible, being called out to scenes at three am usally caused problems when having a lunch date the next day and having to cancel because she was either still in the lab processing evidence or sleeping, friends were few and far when ones career choice was being a CSI, unless one had friends who had the same job who understood the demands of being a CSI.

At seven thirty she made herself some ravioli, from a tin can of course, and some bread, she laughed at the thought of her ever trying to cook ravioli...that probably wouldn't work out that great. she had a 32 inch Tv in her room, big enough for her, it's home was on a small grey stand, the apartment looked homey even though she'd only been there two weeks. She had some decent television channels so she would be ok for the duration of her stay inside the apartment during nights and days. She knew she'd become great friends with her co-workers in the lab eventually, there was Stella Bonesera, a detective that had been working in the NY Crime lab for quite some time, Sheldon Hawkes, the coroner, Danny Messer, a detective who had taken quite an interest in her. Don Flack, a detective from the NYPD who wasn't a scientist like the others but had some great interrogation techniques according to Mac, and that was about it, but they were all lovely, and she liked them very much. Though she knew Danny had an interest in her that seemed more than friendly, she wanted to maintain a work friendship, she didn't want a relationship at the moment.

She turned on the TV and flipped to a show that she watched regularly, The big band theory, it was a good show, made her laugh some, she liked Sheldon the most because he had a certain way of doing things, how precise he was, OCD maybe, who knew, but it was good. Before long it got late, knowing she had work early the next morning Lindsay turned off the TV and dropped the remote onto the small leather couch and headed over to bed.

Before she closed her eyes she hoped that her working in the NY Crime lab would help bring justice to those who needed it, because since she'd been a child she'd wanted to prove guilty people guilty, and innocent people innocent.

The next day.

Stella walked into Danny and Lindsay's shared office and over to the lab table Lindsay was working at "Did you find anything?" Stella asked, glancing at the clothing Lindsay had been examining.

"Trace of burnt skin particles, accelerant residue, but these weren't the clothes she was burnt in, she was re-dressed. Liza Cardell didn't die in these clothes." The clothing had various burn markes and holes, but didn't seem charred to the degree the body had been.

Stella frowned, "She must have been re-dressed after her corpse was burnt to a crisp, what, couldn't the perp just leave it at that, instead of waiting for the remains to cool down to then dress her?"

Lindsay picked up the trace report and handed it to Stella, "Unleaded gasoline, that's what the perp used to torch her." Lindsay nodded and went back to examining the clothing the body had been found in.

Mac walked into the office and Stella proceeded to tell him what she and Lindsay had found, She mainly listened, not wanting to intervein much, She was the new girl, this time was crucial to listen.

Mac nodded to Stella and saw Lindsay staring at them both as they interacted about the case, she had a lot to learn and he was glad she paid attention, even when she wasn't involved in the conversation, he smiled at her and walked out of the room to find Hawkes and Danny looking over some files in the other office. He admired Lindsay, and was glad he had hired her.

Lindsay was a pretty girl, around 5'3 inches, honey/brown eyes and light brown hair, it was pretty short and he had only seen her wear it curly once. He didn't know why he was thinking about her so much lately, it was weird.

"You like her." a voice pulled him out of his reverie, he turned to see Hawkes standing with a knowing smile on his face, a file in his hands. Mac raised an eyebrow and smiled himself.

"She's already an asset to the team, I am certainly glad I hired her."

Hawkes new Mac would try and divert his statement, turn it into something else. "Yes, but you like her in a way that exceeds a working relationship." if Mac wasn't so good at composing himself he would have blushed right then and there.

"She's been here two weeks Sheldon, hardly enough time for me to begin liking her on a more personal level." Mac argued, though deep down he knew what Hawkes was saying was the truth, but he didn't want to admit it just yet, He'd had a few girlfriends after the passing of his late wife Claire who had been killed in the 9/11 attacks, but none of them had really understood him.

Hawkes just smiled, "I see right through you, and I'm sure Stella and Flack will too, I've known you too long Mac...you aren't fooling me."

Mac smiled and shook his head, god he loved his job, even though it had it's ups and downs, the long run was great, the team meant everything to him, even though he was getting older every year, he couldn't see himself retiring anytime soon.

"You all know me too well...I could..well maybe, I don't know, only time can tell." Mac said before leaving the room with the file Sheldon had been holding. little did Mac know, Stella and Flack had been outside the other office door in the back, and Mac luckily hadn't seen them.

They rushed into the office and ran right up to Hawkes, they were smiling, glad they had been right.

"Haha you owe me ten bucks Stella!" Flack clapped his hands and did a little dance, Stella shook her head laughing, she had never guessed that Mac was interested in their newest CSI...she would have never guessed.

"Flack and I were on the ball, knew from the start!" Hawkes laughed again but quickly composed himself when Mac walked back into the office. "So you were all betting whether I liked Lindsay or not...this is a work place, get back to work!" Mac said, trying to be serious, but a smile breaking that, they all shut up and smiled awkwardly.

"What's going on guys?" Lindsay asked as she strode into the office holding a GCMS report. They all froze and plastered their poker faces on, hoping they were realistic enough.

"Nothing, just going over the autopsy report again." Hawkes broke the silence, Lindsay just shrugged and walked over to the lab table and got back to work, the others all let out a silent breath before heading back to their respective places, glad Lindsay hadn't heard anything, especially Mac, if anyone was going to tell Lindsay he liked her, it would be him.


	2. Personal Cases

Disclaimer- I own nothing

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't fear the reaper - Reminds me of Gary because he was in Stephen king's film 'The Stand' and they played this song for the opening scene.

Warning for this chapter, I did go a little heavy on the interrogation so if you don't like that part, don't read it.

Memo: I have used Sas Dumone in this, even though her case isn't until season 7...just disregard it, I added that because it fits in with Lindsay's emotional feelings about the case at hand. And everyone get a load of In ruins by Fol Chen, amazing song, anyway, there are two versions I know of the song, the instrumental they used on the show and the original, you can find both on youtube. :)

Lindsay had been having a rough day, triple homicide, someone had decided to go loco on a family and their six year old daughter, not something you get used to seeing, dead kids. They still hadn't found the killer, Lindsay had examined every piece of evidence in front of her and still had nothing, the frustration was eating at her, she had to come up with something, one thing that could nail Travis Daley, the man they had in custody.

The kid, Kennedy James had the worst injuries, Lindsay gussed the killer like inflicting pain on those who couldn't do anything to stop them, it made her feel sick to the pit of her stomach.

She had only the clothes Kennedy had been wearing, her mother and father Rachel and Jordan James' clothes, but they weren't telling her anything that particularly stood out. Lindsay had pulled a few prints off of the plastic tarp that been used to cover Kennedy's body, but there were no matches in CODIS or any other criminal databases, this killer was out of the system, what puzzled her was the fact that someone who had no priors, had been in no trouble whatsoever suddenly got up one morning and decided to take the lives of an innocent family. She shook her head, a headache coming on, she packed the evidence back into the box and gave it to a lab tech to be brought back into the evidence vault.

"Lindsay, did you find anything more from the tarp Kennedy James was wrapped in?" Danny asked, running up to meet her where she stood in front of the elavator bank. Lindsay sighed heavily and shook her head.

"Did you and Flack get anything out of Daley in interrogation?" Lindsay asked tiredly, Danny's face crumpled with anger and he leaned against the table, folding his arms.

"Everythings there, motive, his hatred towards the family. He and Jordan James hadn't got on since high school, not since Jordan stole Daley's girlfriend in senior year. I guess people never get over things. Daley says he didn't do it, but no DA would prosecute him if there's nothing to put him at the scene. God damn it! We need to find something!" Lindsay sighed and put a hand on his fore arm.

"We'll catch him Danny, I'm gonna go get a coffee, I just gave the evidence to Harlyn, go and grab it if you want." He nodded and walked out of the room to find the evidence.

Lindsay found the break room empty and sighed, she'd secretly hoped she'd run across Mac sometime today, but she hadn't yet, maybe he was taking a day off, which would be odd considering the triple homicide they had on their hands. Maybe he was out with Flack and Hawkes searching for more leads on who killed Rachel, Jordan and Kennedy James. There was one thing that had her re-thinking everything, since when had she began to feel this way about Mac, he was her boss for gods sake...but when she thought of even his name her heart skipped a beat.

She sighed and walked up to the counter top and put the kettle on to boil, once it was done she made herself a cup of black coffee, extra strong, that was needed at the moment. Some time later, she'd finished a small book that had been lying on the table in the middle of the break room, She didn't look up when Mac walked in, hell she didn't even know who it was until she looked up, Mac gave her a warm smile, made himself some coffee and sat down next to her. Lindsay could practically smell him he was that close. He could feel the tension too, He certainly liked her, and having her this close made him want to do something about that.

"Jordan James and Travis Daley didn't like each other at all, maybe that's sort of an explanation on why he killed them." Lindsay said, breaking the silence.

"Oh I don't know, Danny got pretty worked up in interrogation trying to get more out of him, something tell's me Daley's in on what happened, but didn't do it himself, just wants to take credit for it. Maybe he's got a theoretical gun to his head." Mac mused.

Lindsay nodded, maybe that was why...but why would anyone want to take credit for murdering two parents and a six year old. Did Travis Daley take joy in bending over Jordan James' dead body, finally finding out he'd been killed for what? stealing his senior year sweet heart?

She sipped some more coffee and looked at Mac, he seemed deep in thought, he looked up and looked right back at her.

"What?" He asked, then smiled as blood filled Lindsay's cheeks, he'd caught her out.

"Nothing, I was just...I...never mind." She said in a whispery voice. Mac smiled and took her hand in his which made her look up at him shocked. She had never gussed Mac returned the feelings of affection she had towards him, they stared at each other silently until a lab tech came in, Mac smiled and slowly pulled his hand away.

Lindsay knew that most work relationships had to stay personal, private even, and she understood that, but wasn't really one for secrecy, maybe a little, but not totally.

"Lindsay..." Mac said, pulling her out of her day dream.

"Yes?" She asked, putting her professional face back on which made Mac laugh at how quickly her facial expression transformed.

"You really are something else." They sat staring at each other for a few moments, Mac's eyes were impossibly deep, a most beautiful shade of green, she could stare into them for hours. Mac loved her eyes too, they were a honey brown colour, not something he saw every day when it came to eye colour, he remebered Sid telling him something about eyes and how they are formed and the colour and other things a few months back, but all of that was wiped from his mind as he stared into Lindsay's eyes.

"We better get back to work, as much as I enjoy your company." Mac trailed off, smiling at Lindsay.

She snapped out of her trance and got up, "Yeah, sounds perfect." before giving him one last smile before leaving the office.

Mac's cell began ringing, he sighed glanced at the caller ID, Reed Conrad. He hadn't heard a lot from Reed in the past few years since the Taxi Cab serial killer had held him captive and slit his throat. Reed had taken himself out of the blogging world too, chosing a safer job.

"Reed, what's wrong?" Mac said, his voice a tad hard.

"Nothing is wrong Mac, I just thought I'd call you considering we haven't spoken in a while. How's life."

Mac sighed in releif. "Life is good, especially at the moment." he said in a lighter tone.

"A special lady I should know about?" Reed asked in a humorus tone. Mac smiled to himself, He wondered how Reed had the ability to pick up on information that he didn't know was correct or not, but still asked anyway.

"No...but there's a special girl, She's not mine though." He heard Reed laugh, "Ahh, I had a feeling there would be."

Mac shook his head, of course Reed had a hunch, they had been closely connected after the cab serial killer, they had learnt a little more about each other.

"Any interesting cases at the moment?" Reed asked, chaning the subject after Mac had been silent for a while.

"Yes, triple homicide. We have a guy in cusdody, we just need to find some evidence to pin him to the crime. A young family, six year old girl and her parents were killed because the male victim apparently stole the girl off the killer in high school."

"You'll do the right thing Mac, you always do." Mac frowned, what Reed had just said had nothing to do with what he'd just said.

"What do you mean Reed?" Mac asked, but the line was silent.

"The girl, Lindsay. You'll do the right thing." Reed listened for Mac's reply, waited patiently.

"I know...thank you Reed, I have some paper work to do, so I'll catch up with you sometime later this week?" Mac asked, going through the James family homicide case file as he spoke.

"Sure, goodbye."

Stella walked into his office and dropped a file on his desk, he opened it and saw a mug shot of a man with graying blonde hair and steely green eyes. Steven Richmond, 37, had a rap sheet for domestic abuse, assult, theft, public indecency, the list goes on.

"Steven Richmond had a connection to Travis Daley back in the day, I think Richmond might have been the accessory.

"A large step up from domestic abuse and all of the other things this crook has been pinned on, well we'll put him away for murder if the evidence is right."

"Yes. I'll have Lindsay and Adam go back to the crime scene again and see if there's any evidence that indicates Steven Richmond was there."

"I found a hair and a partial, I guess it's not much, but it's something." Yelled Lindsay, Adam raised his head down the hall and shouted back, "That's good, Mac will be happy we found something, just hope the evidence matches up."

"Yeah, hopefully." Lindsay placed her magnifier back into her kit and rose from crouching on her knees, crime scene clean up hadn't been yet and there was still a lot of blood in places, she decided not to look though, she couldn't bare to think about poor little Kennedy.

Kennedy had been a good child, everyone at her school, parents, friends had said she was a star, and Lindsay's heart ached because that young star would never prosper because of some whack job out there, Mac had always said to try and keep the cases from getting personal, but with this one, she just couldn't help it. She found herself crying quietly when Adam walked into the room.

"What's wrong Linds, why are you crying?" He asked, walking closer and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Kennedy, everyone said she was the cutest little girl, that she was a star, it's so sad that her life was taken away from her at such a young age...I'm just, I can't...I feel so sorry even though it's not my fault."

"Everyone has one or two tough cases in this job Linds, I feel you, remember when I saw Sas Dumone die right in front of me on that chat website, I never looked back at that site ever again after that, I just, I couldn't, it made me remember Sas so clearly, so your not alone in this."

Lindsay smiled and hugged Adam, once the little emotional hug was over they packed up and got into the avalanche and headed back to the lab. Adam thought of something that would get Lindsay's mind off of the case, and bingo, it happened.

"Don't you ever wonder how much money Mac spends on replacing this very car a year, and how many he has bought. Ever since I met Mac, this has always been his choice of car. Maybe he had a thing for chevy's back in the day." Adam mused.

Lindsay smiled, "Yeah, I think he bought three last month, I think out of his own money too, I know the NYPD budget only covers so much, but they are good trucks, bullet proof and all, specially designed for our job." she laughed. Ah, mission accomplished.

"Yeah, I know Flack and Danny always fight over the spare keys that are on that hook in Mac's office, Stella always steals them first though, she always manages to sneak past Danny and Flack when their arguing, and by the time they notice, the keys are gone and so is Stella." laughed Adam.

"Boys and their cars, I guess things never change, do they?" she smiled, feeling slightly better than before.

Once they were back at the lab, the elevator dinged and they got off and walked straight into Mac's office.

"I found a hair and a partial, I'm going to run them through CODIS and AFIS right away, anything to get this son of a bitch." Lindsay said before abruptly walking out of the room before Mac could even reply.

Adam glanced at Mac's confused face and shook his head, "She's on a roll today, she wants to find and put away the killer, it's personal for her. She told me earlier how she could hardly bare to think Kennedy James would never be now because of some crook."

"She has a big heart, I'll talk to her." Mac strode out of the office and into Danny and Lindsay's office to see Lindsay bent over her computer, tapping her nails impatiently on the glass table.

"Your not trying to scratch my 7 thousand dollar glass table now are you? Those things are made for extreme weight and can stand most corrosive chemicals." He smiled when she stood up straight and stopped immidiately.

"I'm sorry Mac, the computer network must be down today, everything's slower than usual." She said, glaring at her computer screen.

Mac grabbed her and and pulled her a tad closer, he put a finger under her chin, making her look at him.

"Adam told me how you took thing when you were back at the crime scene, about Kennedy."  
She sighed, bowing her head. "I just want to make things right."

"We will, putting the son of a bitch who killed the family away is a start, that's all we can do sweet heart."

Lindsay blushed at his pet name but tried to hide it to no avail, Mac smiled, she was cute as a button. "I know we can't help taking things personal sometimes, but there's not a lot we can do, I'll take you to their funeral if you'd like."

Lindsay glanced up, teary eyed. "Yes, I'd like that."

"Ok then, I will find out the date and time." With that, Mac left the room, leaving Lindsay alone, she glanced at her computer, the print belonged to a Steven Richmond, as did the hair, happiness filled her and she ran from the office.

"Mac!" He turned around and walked forward, she handed him the papers and a smile graced his features.

"We're in luck Lindsay, thanks to you." She smiled, and they both walked into Mac's office, he needed to make a very important phone call to the DA.

Don stood in the corner of the interrogation room, eyeing Richmond with very obvious disgust, whilst Mac sat directly in front of him.

"Why, Yes you may have had some beef with Jordan James, but that does not justify what you did, you killed a six year old girl, her mother and her father. I bet you feel great don't you, maybe you don't feel guilty now, but eventually you will, and it will eat at you until you can't take it anymore, unfortunately for you, they have maximum security at rikers."

Richmond hadn't said a word for the full hour they had been in the room, Don hadn't said a word either, he stood silently in the corner of the room, staring at Richmond with dark un-sympathetic eyes.

Suddenly Richmond stood up, slammed his palms against the steel table, bad idea, that would hurt.

"Will you get that guy to stop staring at me. I didn't kill those people either, you got nothing on me!" Richmond yelled.

"Oh on the contrary, we have a print that puts you there, a hair, your previous history with Travis Daley and Jordan James, even Rachel, she was your first love, and Jordan James swooped in and took her, what did that make you feel like, made you feel like a chump for loving her. So you thought you'd wait a few years until they'd built a family of their own, only for you to tear it down around them, and the end game of taking their lives. You make me sick." Don shouted, making Richmond flinch.

Mac stood up and threw a picture on the table, a picture of Kennedy's body they had photographed at the scene, Richmond pushed it away, obviously feeling guilty.

"This is what you did. You killed a sex year old girl! A defenseless little girl who had no idea what was coming, infact she saw you kill her mom and dad, how do you think she felt when you were coming towards her, then you finally killed her. And according to the autopsy report, you inflicted the worst injuries possible on the child, you shot her multiple times non-fataly, because you knew she'd beg for you to kill her, even though she probably didn't because she was six, and didn't know what to say!" Mac said, raising his voice.

"You wanted to take everything away from Rachel, she was still alive when she saw you kill her daughter, she bled to death shortly after, imagine that, the last thing you see, someone killing your own flesh and blood. And what's worse is that you had Travis Daley help make sure they wouldn't be able to fight back. Your going to Rikers for 25 to life buddy, and your friend Daley's going the same because he was an accesory." Don yelled.

Richmond finally caved, bowing his head.

"I wanted to make her feel the heart breaking pain I felt, as I stood over her daughter and killed her, and Jordan, he never saw that coming."

"Another thing, Rachel was pregnant, and you and your buddy Daley beat her to a pulp. I'm sure you didn't know she miscarried, though you probably thought the blood had seeped down from her gunshot wounds."

Richmond shook his head, guilt collapsing him.

"I hope you rot in hell for what you've done, and I hope you drop your god damn soap in rikers." Don said before they both walked out of the room.

"Cheers!" the whole team clanked their glasses together, it had been a tough week, but not the case had been put to rest, and Steven Richmond was being sentenced to death at some point, people like him shouldn't live after doing something so brutal.

Mac sat quite close to Lindsay, which everyone noticed, he wrapped an arm around her waist and glanced down at her.

"If you hadn't have found that evidence, Richmond would still be on the streets. Cheers for Lindsay!" everyone clanked glasses again and cheered.

"Thank you everyone, I just have to say that I know I haven't been here long, but you are all my very good friends, I'm glad I met you." They all cheered again and raised their glasses, everything had gone the way she had hoped it would.

A few hours later Lindsay was alone in her apartment, having just got changed for bed, everyone had gone home a few hours after drinks at the bar, she was about to turn the living room light off before she heard a knock at her door.

She walked over and glanced through the peep hole, Mac stood in front of her door with no die or jacket, three or four buttons unbuttoned on his shirt, his hair slightly messy, he looked good though. She opened the door and stood side.

"Hey Mac, what are you doing here..." she trailed off as they both sat on her couch.

He smiled, "I Know I'm drunk...but I have to say this." He said, running a hand through his hair.

"I can't even think of what to say..." He sighed and moved closer, placing a hand behind Lindsay's head and capturing her lips with his, he waited a few seconds until she started to respond, he pushed his tongue into her mouth and they made out until oxygen became a problem.

"Woah.." She mumbled, slightly dazed.

"Yeah...well, now you know. I like you Lindsay." He smiled before leaning in for another kiss.

Eventually they fell asleep on the couch holding each other, a tough case had brought the big boss and the rookie together. Surprisingly, they were okay with that.


	3. Corner store witness

Disclaimer- I own nothing

_Oasis summer fruits is one of my favourite drinks...and if you think my spelling is bad, you're probably american. I'm english...we spell some words different, like over here we spell Color Colour, we have a U, similar to Favourite, wheras in America it's Favorite. Not sure if Oasis is in america, but damn, it's mighty fine._

Mac opened his eyes, squinting at the light that shone in through the large window of Lindsay's apartment. He glanced at his watch, 6:02 am. Considering the job never gave anyone enough time to sleep, his body had been programmed into waking alertly not long after six am. He glanced down at Lindsay's curled form, her soft hair gently brushing his chin. He pondered their kiss, wondering how he'd managed to stumble up to her apartment wasted as hell without breaking a bone or two.

Normally he never involved himself in his co-workers personal lives, it was just something he had never had any problems with, until now.

Lindsay was young, perhaps too young. But he couldn't ignore the obvious attraction between them, there hadn't been anyone he had been remotely interested in since Claire had died. Life had been tough on him since that faithful day. September 11th 2001. The day his beloved wife of a long time had been taken from him. Things had been rough from that day on. Stella, Aiden, Danny, Flack and Hawkes had all been supportive, offering him help whenever he needed it.

But he had surprised them by doing the opposite of what they had expected him to do. He had buried himself into his work, trying to leave behind the pain that had plagued him since that day. He tried not to remember that last phone call with Claire before she died. No one had given much opinion on how they felt though, only because he usually kept to himself, shying away at even a mention of 9/11.

And now, three years later. He felt better, finally able to leave what had happened behind him, he knew that Claire would always linger in the back of his heart, but a new space for love had taken up residency, and he couldn't stop it. He found himself absentmindedly stroking Lindsay's hair, he hadn't even noticed that she had been awake for over fifteen minutes, staring up at his face as many thoughts ran through his mind.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, barely a whisper.

He glanced down, containing his surprise that she had been awake the whole time. He composed his face into a neutral look, but also knowing it wouldn't fool her for one second.

"The last time I spoke to claire before she died." Lindsay smiled sadly and rubbed his shoulder in a comforting manor.

She knew that he wouldn't want her to talk about it, or try to make him feel better, from the short time she had known Mac, she knew that a comfortable silence was the best thing for when he was feeling this way.

After some time had passed he leaned down and kissed the top of her head and gently whispered thank you into her ear.

"I remember 1983...I was young, Claire and I had just married, it was just after the marriage that I went on a tour of Beirut, it was a tough war, our Platoon Sergeant was a brave man. One of my best friends, Stan Whitney died in my arms, I tried to save him but my efforts were futile."

Lindsay smiled sadly, again not offering any kind of condolence, knowing he wouldn't appreciate that. He didn't like to talk about his past, only to people who had known him for years. She knew it would take some time before he would open up to her like that. The fact that he had told her about Beirut in 1983 had been big, big for him anyway.

People had described Mac Taylor to be a stubborn bull-headed man, who never ever took any days off unless he had an injury impairing him to do what he did best. The only time he had ever taken any time off was after Claire had died, he'd given himself a week before he buried himself into his work. During that week had thrown every single item in the house that had belonged to Claire apart from one, a beach ball that she had blown up the previous summer, he kept it because it contained her breath, meaning he still had a part of her. He had packed up his things into boxes and moved out of the apartment at the end of that week, not even thinking of trying to cope without her in the apartment they had shared for a long while.

Mac tightened his arm around Lindsay's curled form, pressing his chin firmly on her head in an affectionate gesture.

"I haven't been interested in any women since Claire, until now."

"I know."

"I dream about her sometimes, once she told me that I needed to move on, that I would find love again."

Lindsay nodded silently and took ahold of his left hand, squeezing tightly, he squeezed back and smiled, loving the comfortable silence.

"You know, Stella used to pester me every day, asking me when I would be taking off my wedding ring, I told her I would when the time was right. I took it off last year."

Lindsay glanced up, giving him a curious glance before resting her head under his chin again, closing her eyes for a few moments. He began stroking her hair again, absent mindedly, she sighed happily and kept her eyes closed, she knew she could probably drift back to sleep with the calming sensations he was sending her.

Lindsay had been drifting in and out of consciousness, snuggling deeper into Mac's side, enjoying the quiet time they had managed to snag together. Mac smiled down at her and pushed her to the side, standing up from the couch and stretching, he laughed when he saw her glare up at him, shivering at the loss of warmth.

He grinned and leant down, scooping her up into his arms and glanced at her for indication, she pointed towards a brick wall and motioned for him to carry her there. He smiled, enjoying the view she had from her bedroom, there was another apartment complex next door, and slightly beyond that he could see the Brooklyn Bridge. He really loved New York, ever since moving there after he had married, it had become his beloved home, even though he lost his beloved wife in New York, it would always be his home.

Mac wrenched back the covers with one arm and placed Lindsay down, leaning down to take his shoes off, grimacing once realising he hadn't taken them off the night before. He slid into the bed next to Lindsay and glanced at the clock on the wall, 7:09, he smiled and wrapped an arm around Lindsay's waist, knowing he probably wouldn't sleep, but choosing to enjoy the comfortable vibes she was sending his way.

A few hours later Lindsay woke, moving her right hand across the sheet, searching until she found nothing, her eyes shot open and she grimaced, noticing that Mac's shoes were gone, as was he. She tried to reign herself in, knowing that Mac had a lot of responsibilities, in and out of the lab, so him not being there when she woke up shouldn't have been a surprise. She glanced over to the clock, noting that it was way past eleven and decided to get up, stripping off her clothing from the night before and grabbing a towel from the closet in her room. She closed the bathroom door behind her, throwing the towel down so it draped over the railing, stepping into the stall, closing the door and turning on the shower, smiling happily as the hot water flowed down her body, releaving the stress and aches her body had collected over the week, she spent longer than she should have in the shower, resembling a prune as she stepped out. She brushed her teeth and hair, opening the door and stepping into her room, slightly surprised to find Mac Taylor lying on her bed, legs crossed, reading the complete works of Oscar Widle that she had never managed to get into, only a few early pages of Dorian Gray, that was all.

She blushed slightly, pulling the towel tighter around her body, not ready to be exposed this way just yet.

"I'll close my eyes."

"Ok." She said, walking past the bed and over to the dresser, where she pulled out some sweat pants, new underwear, socks and a long sleeved t-shirt, all too prepared for a lazy day. Ten or so minutes later she entered the room again, crawling up the bed, sitting back on her knees at Mac's feet.

He grinned and placed the Oscar Wilde book down on her bedside table, leaning down to grab a bag from the floor.

"I figured you'd be in the shower when I returned, so I bought us subs instead of making breakfast, I had to run into the lab, make sure everything was running smoothly, and of course being scolded by Stella for coming in at all." He smiled, pulling out a turkey salad sandwich and a ham and cheese.

"Turkey or ham?"

"Turkey."

They ate their sandwiches in silence, glancing up at each other every so often with small grins, enjoying the comfortable silence even more so.

"What hours are you working tomorrow?" He asked, wiping some dressing from his lips with a paper napkin that had been in the bag containing the sandwiches.

"11 till 1, but I'm on call so I'll probably work over-time depending if we get a call out or not."

"It's New York, I can almost guarantee that you will be on a call out."

Lindsay nodded, finishing the last bite of her sandwich before using another napkin to wipe her mouth, throwing the trash into the bag afterwards.

"I know. Even the crimals never sleep."

He smiled, "And we never sleep because we're always up chasing them down."

"The job has it's pro's and con's...I couldn't imagine doing anything else though."

He smiled, allowing her to continue. "Since leaving Montana, I haven't thought of anything else other than this job, living, breathing and this job, it's all I've ever wanted since I was a kid."

"I was like that when I was younger, I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps, become a Marine straight out of high school, and that is exactly what I did...infact, my father was the one who persuaded me to take this job, just before he died, he told me that I should take it, that there wouldn't be anything left for me in Chicago, that Claire and I may as well live out our lives in the city."

Lindsay nodded, "How did Claire take everything?"

"She was supportive, happy I had decided to move to the city, all of her family live here, so you can imagine she'd be estatic."

Lindsay smiled, "What about kids?"

Mac gave a small smile and sighed, "Other than Reed, It was always next year, I always put it off, I always told Claire that our jobs were to hectic for children at the time, and waiting a while would do...and it just never happened."

Lindsay smiled sadly and placed a hand on Mac's shoulder, "There's still time, you're not exactly an old man."

He raised an eyebrow, "I know...but I'm not getting any younger."

She glared at him, "A ninety year old man has been recorded in a record book somewhere for getting someone pregnant...no matter how old the guy is, it can happen, belive me."

He gave her a worried look, "Where did you hear that?"

She tutted, "I two older brothers, and a boat load of cousins, my cousin Anthony always loves to brag about how his great grand daddy got a chick pregnant when he was ninety."

Mac shook his head, laughing, "Your cousin is crazy."

"Don't I know it, I grew up with him."

"So, where do your brothers live?"

"Well Nate lives in Wyoming with his girlfriend Stacey, and Morgan lives in Phoenix, he met some dolly over there and married her after two months, haven't heard from him in a while, I'm sure he'll check in soon. Think the girls name was Candy...says something doesn't it, sounds like a stripper."

He laughed again, "If he's in love, then what can you say?"

"That I don't want nieces and nephews named after sweets."

"Fair enough."

He smiled and glanced at his watch, "It's getting late now, so I think I'm going to head home, I'll see you in work tomorrow..." Mac trailed off, getting up from his space on the bed.

"We've really been in bed all day. Well I have, wow I feel lazy." He said, brushing some hair back from her face.

"Yeah." He said, moving forward after having put his shoes and coat back on. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, stroking her hair before leaning back.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She whispered, staring after him as he left.

The next day she found herself stepping off of the elevator one hour earlier than she should. She knew her shift didn't start till eleven, but she had woken up early and couldn't get back to sleep, she had a tray of four coffee cups in her arms, her bag slung over her shoulder as she made her way towards the break room, she knew Mac would be in his fish bowl of an office so she knew she could bring him his coffee a little later.

Danny and Hawkes were sitting on the large orange couch as she entered, their eyes lit up when they saw the coffee cups, glad they'd be drinking something other than the brown sludge in the coffee pot on the counter. She grinned and placed the tray down on the glass coffee table, unslinging her bag as she sat down on a chair opposite, dropping her bag to the floor.

"There's coffee for you two, Stella and Mac, thank me later." She said, standing up, grabbing both hers and Mac's coffee and leaving the break room, giving the boys a smile as she left.

He had a medium sized stack of paperwork in front of him, and appeared to be on his computer, probably writing a report. She knocked gently on the glass, waiting for his approval. He grinned and beckoned her to come in with his hand, leaning back in his chair.

"Morning, I brought you coffee, black, no sugar." She said, placing the cup down on the table in front of him, she smiled and turned to leave, keeping up a professional relationship was something that they both took pride in at work, not letting anyone know their business was mandatory.

"Lindsay!" He called, she stopped for a second, waiting for him to say something.

"Thank you for the coffee."

She nodded and carried on down the corridor back towards the break room, noticing that Stella had arrived, and was thoroughly enjoying he coffee Lindsay had brought in for her.

Stella spotted Lindsay and made a loud appreciative noise, "Thank you, you are truly a life saver...the coffee here is purely disgusting, and I didn't have time to pick any up this morning."

Lindsay smiled as she sat down, sinking back into the chair with a contented sigh.

"Everyone have a good weekend? I took Cindy to a Coldplay concert, and I'm already startin' to regret it." Danny mused, sipping his coffee slowly, savouring the taste.

Lindsay smiled, "I stayed in, didn't really do anything..."

Stella gave her a curious look, and she wondered whether Mac had told her where he had spent his weekend because they were closer than most of the team, Lindsay shrugged and had some more coffee.

"I was doing some more research on brain tumors, even though I'm not an active surgeon anymore, I like to help in any way I can." Hawkes added, enjoying another sip of coffee.

"That's very productive, how did Cindy like coldplay?" Stella asked, a smirk on her face, regarding Danny.

Danny rolled his eyes, "Screaming, jumping, the whole lot all while I was standing next to her lookin' like a clown."

"Does she even know more than one coldplay song?" Lindsay asked, twirling a curl between her fingers.

"Talk and yellow."

"Oh dear...is she blonde?"

"Do I even have to answer that?"

"Well you're the one who choses to date these air head blondes Danny..not us."

"I like blondes...they're hot."

"Don't we all." Hawkes added, picking up a science world magazine from the coffee table and flicking it open.

Stella and Lindsay collectively rolled their eyes and sighed, Stella stood and walked over to the trash can, dumping her empty cup in and walking to the door as her beeper went off.

"Briefing with Mac in ten minutes, come on people, fun times over."

They all smiled and got up, Danny heading out and towards the locker room, Hawkes and Stella walking to the conference room while Lindsay stayed back and threw away her trash.

She was the last to walk into the conference room and took a seat next to Danny, Stella sat to the side of the head of the table whilst Mac stood by the electronic board screwed to the wall.

"Now, as we do not have any active cases running now, we are going to focus on the unsolved ones until we get a call out, now, who has been assigned to the DJ Pratt case sinse Aiden left?"

"I have." Danny said, digging out a file from his binder and throwing it to the middle of the table with a disappointed sigh.

"Anything new?" Mac asked, picking up the file.

"No. I'm exactly where Aiden was three months ago, staring DJ Pratt in the face but powerless to do anything, there isn't much trace at all, and I've been over the victim's clothing more times to count."

Mac's brow furrowed, "Have there been anymore rape reports with the same MO as Pratt?"

"No sir, I have been checking every day, and still nothing."

"Ok. Well we're going to need to keep at that case, I don't mean to push anything aside, but what more can we do with this little evidence?"

"Not much..." Danny added, glancing down, missing Aiden more than he cared to admit to the others.

"Right...well I have a corner store robbery/homicide on hells kitchen, we have no suspects but I know the owner saw more than he's telling people, think someone's on his case not to budge."

"Who's the guy?" Hawkes asked, crossing his hands.

"Jimmy Corden. He's Italian-American, lives in the Bronx."

"Ah, I arrested him once for fighting with another corner store owner." Danny spoke up, smiling.

"He's a funny guy...guess he's in big trouble now."

"Yeah well, Allison Corden will have my ass if I don't solve this. She already came by and stirred up a storm about Jimmy keeping secrets from her and the police, she wants peace again, not trouble."

"They have any kids?"

"No thankfully. Kids are always the prime target."

"Yeah well Corden is a tough cookie, good luck with him." Danny smiled, remembering the arrest.

Mac raised an eyebrow, "Well since you know him so well Danny, you're coming with me to question him again."

Danny's smile widened, "Don't think he liked me much ya know."

"Don't try and get out of it."

Danny raised his hands, "I ain't...was just sayin'."

"Does Corden even like you?" Mac asked after a few minutes as he stood, straightening the lapels on his jacket.

Danny smiled, "He didn't at first, I'm sure he loves me now."

"Good...we don't need another suspect not co-operating because he hates one of our police detectives."

"You got that right!"

"Come on. Let's go before I change my mind about bringing you." Mac said, smiling at everyone as he left.

"See ya later Montana." Danny winked as he left, leaving Stella, Hawkes and Lindsay to they're own devices.

"Stella, I'm leaving you in charge, so any call outs or cases we're working on are on your call, coffee later." Mac said before following Danny out of the room.

Stella nodded and got up and threw some files down on the table, Lindsay and Hawkes each grabbed one and inwardly groaned, there was nothing they hated more than working dead end cases with little evidence.

"I'm assigning you both to the Pratt case as Danny and Mac are working the bar shooting one."

Lindsay nodded and headed towards the evidence storage unit where all case evidence was kept under maximum security. The clerk looked up from his news paper with a bored miserable look on his face, he looked tired and worn, probably not even wanting to deal with anyone.

"Buzz me in and I'll look for what I'm lookin' for." The clerk pressed the buzzer and gave her a grateful smile before pointing to the back, she smiled back and pushed open the door and headed straight to the back.

She took the two boxes from the shelf and walked back to the front where the clerk kicked open the door for her, she nodded thanks and headed towards the trace lab where Chad was leaning over a microscope, looking for something.

"Sup Monroe...what'cha got there?" He aksed.

"DJ Pratt case evidence."

He made a face "Ooh unlucky...Aiden was stuck on that one before she was fired, good luck making further progress."

"Oh I know...Hawkes is helping me though."

Chad nodded, "You're gonna need all the help you can get...Regina Bowen let the case drop so it's going to be hard."

"Again?"

"Yeah, too scared to testify I guess."

Lindsay shook her head, maybe if Regina Bowen hadn't dropped the case the first time, DJ Pratt would be behind bars now, but unfortunately life had a way of making things difficult sometimes.

Lindsay brought the bag over to the light table Chad was working from and sat down the boxes, she pulled Regina Bowen's clothing from the box and set the evidence bags out spaced away from each other.

"You won't find any trace on those clothes, Aiden went over them a hundred times and still came up with nothing." Hawkes said as he came in, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"I trust Aiden's judgement...I just don't know what we can possibly do now...there is next to nothing to go on."

"We can hit the clothes with a lazer...that's something Aiden didn't do."

Lindsay sighed and nodded, with little hope she followed Hawkes to the dark rooms where they kept the lazers and other equipment used for detecting nearly invisible trace. It was going to be a horribly long day, and they both knew it.

Mac pushed open the heavy glass door of the store, waiting a few seconds for Danny to follow him. Jimmy Corden's eyes widened when he saw the two cops enter his shop, he cleared his throat and threw down the news paper he had been reading, folding his arms tightly across his chest.

"I ain't sayin' nothing, like I told ya scrawny friend, I didn't see nothin'."

Danny glared at him, "I'm not scrawny."

"Damn sure looks like it boy." Corden glared back

"Yeah, you look like you could lose a few." Mac tossed Danny a stern look, telling him to back off.

Corden pointed to Danny, "I don't like this guy...you better watch it Messer."

Mac ignored him, a blank expression on his face as he pulled a picture from the inside pocket of his jacket, it was a mug of a someone they had suspected of being there during the shooting.

"Don't give me that bullshit. I know you saw something, now you better start talking."

Corden eyed the photograph wearily, huffing heavily before slamming his hands down on the glass counter.

"His names Rosie, Italian or something...listen, you gotta protect me and my wife, Ali's all I got, and I don't want her taken from me cause Rosie or one of his thugs find out I ratted on em'...c'mon."

Mac sighed, "I'm placing you and Allison under protective custody."

Corden didn't look impressed, "Like that's gonna be enough...they'll get us while we're sleeping."

Mac sighed again, "No one will get you Corden. Now I've got a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to get it done in, now I'm out of here...you'll be seeing men in blue around every corner, and pack your bags, I'll be expecting you and Allison down at the 12th precinct later."

Corden nodded and gave Danny one last glare before heading into the back.

"Corden, hold up." Mac shouted, remembering something else. Corden huffed and glanced up

"Does Rosie have a last name?"

"Rosie is his street name, now get outta here."

Mac rolled his eyes and followed Danny out of the shop, they walked in silence towards the avalanche, thoughts mulling over in their heads."

"Make sure you cover ya head...I don't want Lindsay on my door step at three in morning crying because she can't find you anywhere. Be careful on this one Mac."

"I will. There's no way Lindsay will be without me on this one."

"Good."

"That's settled then."

They nodded and got into the truck, heading back towards the lab, thinking of better things.


End file.
